A proposed overnight runway rotation plan for O’Hare International Airport was approved by the O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission in August. Next stop is the FAA.
The vast majority of O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission members recently approved an overnight runway rotation intended to evenly distribute the shriek of jets around the region, but there were headwinds.
Seven out of 62 commission members — Itasca, Norridge, South Barrington, Norridge School District 80 and Chicago’s Wards 40, 41 and 45 — opposed the plan at an Aug. 17 meeting.
No one disputed that the commission’s Fly Quiet Committee, which prepared the 12-week runway schedule, gave it enough thought.
“Ultimately, this was a plan developed through seven years of hard work by the Fly Quiet Committee and the full ONCC, and I was pleased with the amount of support that the Fly Quiet Committee’s recommendation received,” commission Vice Chair Karyn Robles said last week.
South Barrington Mayor Paula McCombie said she dissented “because of the concentration of noise we’re going to have for a solid week at a time.
“What we have right now is a dispersion of the planes going over different areas (of South Barrington) at night.” The rotation “is going to affect us more than it would if it was occasional planes coming over our town. If you have a constant stream of airplanes going over your town, it’s going to be a lot more noisier at night” for that period, McCombie said.
“My heart is with protecting the residents. And, we keep our windows open out here,” McCombie added, noting South Barrington doesn’t qualify for sound insulation funding.
The rotation proposal, which still needs federal approval, uses four of O’Hare’s longest parallel east/west runways and two diagonal ones.
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Editorial note: Hoffman Estates and South Barrington are O’Hare Noise Compatibility Commission members. District 220 and Barrington Hills are not. We wonder why not?
Mayor McCombie’s notion of specifically protecting South Barrington from noise created by arrivals and departures from the nation’s 3rd. busiest airport just doesn’t fly. It is notable that almost all homeowners in South Barrington built or purchased their homes long after Orchard Field became O’Hare International Airport in1949. No doubt, residents of South Barrington fly in and out of ORD any time they travel. This plan does the most possible to share the pain of noise and the convenience of ORD’s location.